Louver windows



E C- SCOTT LOUVER WINDOWS Oct. 30, 1962 Filed Feb. 23, 1960 liniteci States Patent 3,060,528 LOUVER WINDOWS Edwin Charles Scott, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, as-

signor to Chris Turner & Scott Pty. Ltd., Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, a company of Queensland, Australia Filed Feb. 23, 1960, Ser. No. 10,301

Claims priority, application Australia Feb. 25, 1959 1 Claim. (Cl. 20-62) This invention relates to louver windows.

The most common type of adjustable louver assembly currently employed consists basically of a pair of channelsection metal jambs adapted to be positioned vertically in opposed relationship at either side of a window opening; a Series of channelled louver clips associated with each jamb and adapted to support the respective ends of glass louver blades, and pivot disks rotatably mounted in bearing apertures in the jambs in equally-spaced, co-linear arrangement and each having a louver clip secured thereto at about the middle of the latter. The arrangement is such that the lowermost portion of each louver clip overlaps in front of the uppermost portion of the louver clip next below when the louver clips are in closed positions.

To elfect opening and closing of the louver clips and blades, there is commonly provided a pair of parallel operating bars extending longitudinally Within one of the jambs and pivotally secured to respective, diametricallyopposed pivot pins on the back of each pivot disk, while an operating lever is connected pivotally to the operating bars in such manner that it may be moved to cause desired longitudinal movement of the operating bars in opposite directions to rotate the pivot disks in unison and so effect opening or closing of the clips and the louver blades. In many cases, there is employed a very simple type of operating lever, together with a separate locking lever.

An example of this type of adjustable louver assembly is to be found in the specification of our United States patent application Serial No. 828,217, now Patent No. 2,952,051, issued September 13, 1960.

In order that the louvers may be both operated between open and closed positions and locked in closed position by one movement of a single, manually-controlled lever, it has been proposed to provide a toggle mechanism, consisting of a primary operating lever pivotally secured to one of the operating bars and extending rearwards from the jamb to form a handle, and a secondary lever located within the jamb and having its respective ends connected pivotally to the other operating bar and to the primary operating lever, the toggle being arranged so that the three aforementioned pivotal connections become co-linear and then pass slightly beyond dead-center position in a substantially longitudinal direction when the primary operating lever is moved to fully-closed position.

It will be apparent that the operating bars will then be prevented by the levers from moving longitudinally relative to one another, so that it will be impossible to turn the pivot disks by exerting pressure on the edges of the closed louver blades. Thus, automatic, burglar-proof locking is efiected in the final closing movement.

While toggle mechanisms of this nature have proved relatively satisfactory, we have found that, with the use of thick blades of glass, overlapping one another in the Patented Oct. 30, 1962 usual manner in their louver clips, the blades and clips may assume closed, contacting positions before the primary operating lever has been moved to the normal, fullyclosed position. In consequence, the three pivotal connections of the two levers will not have become aligned or passed beyond dead center position, and it will be possible to move the bars to open the louvers by exerting pressure on the edges of the louver blades. Alternatively, if undue force were to be exerted on the primary operating lever, the latter might be forced to the fully-closed position, but this would cause wear of the components and resultant slackness. In any event, this type of arrangement having three fixed pivotal connections to the toggle cannot provide for the same closing action whatever may be the thickness of glass selected for the louver clips.

It has been proposed to overcome this difiiculty by pro viding spring means associated with at least one of the pivot points or levers so that movement of the levers past dead-center position may take place against the action of the spring means after the blades have fully closed. However, *1 have found that springs are unreliable in many ways and may break after constant use, leaving considerable undesirable free movement of the levers and rattle in the blades.

My present invention has therefore been devised to provide such improvements in toggle mechanisms for adjustable louvers as will enable a firm and positive closing action with blades of various selected thicknesses, without the use of springs or other unreliable devices for this purpose.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention resides broadly in a toggle locking mechanism for adjustable louvers of the type having three pivotal connections adapted to be substantially aligned beyond dead center in a locked attitude when the louvers are in closed positions, characterized in that means are provided for adjustably varying the position of one of the pivotal connections in the direction of alignment. Various features of the invention associated with different embodiments thereof will become apparent from the following description.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of part of an adjustable louver assembly, incorporating a locking mechanism in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of part of the nearside jamb assembly of the louver assembly shown in FIG. 1, and showing the locking mechanism arranged to cater for thin louver blades, the latter being in fully-closed positions;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the jamb assembly, similar to FIG. 2, but showing the locking mechanism arranged to cater for thick louver blades, the latter being in fully-closed attitudes;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the adjustment bush of the locking mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, and

FIG. 5 is another side elevational view of the jamb assembly, similar to FIGS. 2 and 3, but showing an alternative form of locking mechanism, the blades being in fully-open positions.

Referring initially to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is shown portion of an adiustable louver assembly of the type described and illustrated in the specification of our United States patent application Serial No. 828,217. The louver assembly has a pair of jamb assemblies 19 and 11 with glass louver blades 12 there-between, the jamb assemblies being adapted to be mounted in spaced, vertical, opposed relationship at either side of a window opening. The jamb assembly includes a channel-section jamb 13, while the jamb assembly 11 has a jamb 14 of similar but opposed construction.

The jambs 13, 14 have pivot disks 15 rotatably mounted in bearing apertures with louver clips 16 secured to the inner faces of the disks 15, while the rear ends of the latter are enlarged to bear against the rear faces of the jambs. The jambs 13, 14 are also provided with weatherproofing means as described in the aforementioned patent specification, consisting of parallel weather beads 17 disposed at a slight angle to vertical from rear to front in a downward direction. The beads 17 are arranged in pairs extending between adjacent pairs of louver clip pivots 15, one weather bead of each pair being disposed at or near to the front of the louver clips 16 and the other at or near to the rear of the clips when the latter are in their closed positions, an upper section of each rear bead and a lower section of each front bead protruding further from the jamb surface than the lower section of each rear bead and upper section of each front bead, as illustrated. The louver clips 16 are pivoted to move over the less-protruding sections of the beads but engage against the moreprotruding sections. When the louver clips 16 and blades 12 are closed, the lowermost portion of each overlaps in front of the uppermost portion of the clip and blade next below, the clips and blades thus lying at slight angles to vertical corresponding to the angles of the beads 17.

In the case of the jamb 14, the outer portions of the pivot disks 15 are connected by diametrically-opposed pins 18 to a pair of oppositely-reciprocable front and rear operating bars 19 and 20 arranged longitudinally within the channel of the jamb 14 and adapted to be actuated by an operating and locking toggle mechanism consisting of a primary operating lever 21 and a secondary lever 22. The

primary operating lever 21 has its rear end extending through a recess 23 in the jamb 14 and is shaped to form a handle 24, while its front end is connected by a pivot pin 25 to the upper end of the secondary lever 22, the lower end of the latter being connected by a pivot pin 26 to the front operating bar 19.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 4, for the pivotal connection of the primary operating lever 21 to the rear operating bar 20, the lever 21 has at an intermediate position an oversize circular aperture (not shown) within which there fits closely but rotatably a cylindrical bush 27 (shown in FIG. 4) of an adjustment member 28, an hexagonal head 29 of the latter being coaxial with the bush 27 and adapted to bear on top of the lever 21 about the said oversize circular aperture therein. Also, the bush 27 has an off-center bore 30 through which there passes a pivot pin 31, fixed at its inner end to the rear operating bar 20 while its free outer end is threaded to accommodate a spring washer and lock-nut 32.

It will be noted that the toggle mechanism has three pivot axes, namely, those of the pivot pins 25 and 26 and that of the adjustment bush 27. When the primary operating lever 21 has its handle 24 raised to uppermost, locked position, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the secondary lever 22 will be pushed down until the three pivot axes or points become aligned, the design allowing for the middle axis to pass the dead-center position, as illustrated by the dotted line, indicated by the numeral 33, passing through the uppermost and lowermost of the three axes.

In FIG. 2, the operating bars 19 and 20 are shown contacting one another, as will be the case where sheets of glass of minimum practical thickness are employed as blades, while FIG. 3 shows the bars 19 and 20 spaced apart, indicating that thick blades of glass are preventing full turning of the louver clips 16 and pivot disks 15.

Thus, for the same firm and positive closing action of the primary operating lever 21 with both thin and thick blades, the distance between the pivot axis at 26 and the axis of the bush 27 should be the same in both cases, as illustrated by FIGS. 2 and 3. However, the distance from the axis at 26 to the pin 31 will be greater in FIG. 1 because the bars 19 and 20 will have been moved to a maximum distance in opposite directions, whereas they will not have been moved the same relative longitudinal distances in FIG. 2. To correct this difference, the adjustment bush 27 is set in FIG. 1 so that its axis lies below the axis of the pin 31, while in FIG. 2 the bush 27 is set with its axis above the axis of the pin 31. The distance between the axis at 26 and the axis of the bush 27 will thus be the same in both cases, desired adjustment being facilitated by the provision of the hexagonal head 29 of the adjustment bush 27, the latter acting as an eccentric.

When the lock-nut 32 is tightened, the bush 27 will be fixed in desired position relative to the pin 31, then acting as a pivot axis for the primary lever 21. If desired, the louver assembly may be sold with a setting suitable for certain thickness of glass, and any unskilled operative may make adjustments merely by slackening the nut 32, turning the hexagonal head 29 of the adjustment bush 27 to a desired extent, and then retightening the nut 32 with the adjustment bush 27 in its new position. Naturally, the adjustment bush 27 and associated parts could be provided at any one of the pivot axes, while the bush need not have a hexagonal head 29 but could be provided instead with a round head having a finger lug or the like for digital or other adjustment.

It will be seen that the feature of the invention is the provision of means for varying the setting of the distance between any two of the pivot axes in their longitudinallyaligned positions in accordance with the thickness of the glass in the louver blades, and this may be accomplished by means other than the eccentric adjustment bush. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the lowermost pin 26, secured to the bar 19, may pass through an elongated slot 34 in the lower end of the secondary lever 22, the latter having above and below the slot 34 tapped blocks 35 through which screws 36 pass adjustably to enable the longitudinal position of the pin 26 relative to the lever 22 to be adjustably varied.

Then again, there could be used an adjustment bush, similar to that previously described but having an oversize, concentric bore instead of the eccentric bore described and illustrated. The bush could be set in desired position relative to the pin 31, but considerable force would be required in tightening the nut 32 to ensure that there was no likelihood of the position altering during use.

In addition to the above-mentioned alternative forms of the invention, it will be apparent that the levers 21 and 22 may be arranged quite differently from the attitudes described and illustrated insofar as their pivotal connections are concerned. It will be appreciated that the invention applies to toggle mechanisms generally, and that it embraces many modifications which lie within its scope and ambit, as defined by the appended claim.

What I claim is:

In a louver assembly of the character described, the combination of, a plurality of pivoted louvers, means mounting said louvers upon parallel axes, a pivot bush having an external cylindrical bearing surface which provides a first lever pivot the axis of which is parallel to said axes, said bush having a bore which is off-center with respect to said bearing surface, a mounting pin for said pivot bush which is snugly received within said bore, said bush having means to be engaged to adjust the angular position of said bush upon said mounting pin, means to clamp said bush in adjusted position, a primary operating lever mounted to be swung manually upon said first lever pivot parallel to said axes, a secondary operating lever, means forming a second lever pivot pivotally connecting said secondary operating lever to said primary lever, an

J operating bar parallel to the plane of said axes, pivot means pivotally connecting each of said louvers to said operating bar whereby said operating bar may be moved longitudinally and arcuately to swing said louvers from and to their closed position, and means forming a third 5 lever pivot pivotally connecting said operating bar to said secondary lever, said second lever pivot moving through the general plane of said first lever pivot and said third lever pivot during the initial opening and final closing movements of the louvers whereby said louvers are held in 10 closed position with the holding effect being determined by the adjustment of the angular position of said bush.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Brown Oct. 3, 1944 Pettigrew Oct. 12, 1954 Sconzo Sept. 29, 1959 Cline Mar. 29, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS Australia Mar. 4, 1952 

